Please remember to honor our fallen heroes
Dear HillBuzz,
Today is the day that the fallen heros from the helicopter crash in Afghanistan over the weekend begin to return home for the final time. A young wounded warrior posted this quote online this morning:
“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.”
–John Stuart Mill–
I’ve heard many respond to the tragedy by saying “we just need to get out of there now”. As someone who is close to young men in the military I have to admit that I want this to end as well. I listen to the news reports of how the fallen heros are being returned, listen to families of these heros express their grief and pride, and see photographs of the fallen with their loved ones with tears welling-up in my eyes. These photos could easily be of someone I know and love. Yes, I want them home and safe. But what many with no understanding of, or connection to, someone in this area of service to our country don’t realize is that the quote above is something they believe in to the last fiber of their being.
Gone are the days when our young citizens join the military as just a good way to get a job, learn a skill, pay for school and figure they’ll stay safe. Everyone who has joined in at least the last decade, National Guard included, know that they will most likely be doing duty in a hostile area. They join to serve our country, first and foremost. The worst thing we can do to repay them is give them a sense that the sacrifice they make is for nothing. To say “we just need to get them out of there” causes them to feel that their service and sacrifice are diminished in our eyes. That we don’t consider their mission to be important enough.
We can all pray that our heros return home safely and that there comes a time when they no longer have to be prepared to give the ultimate sacrifice. But we can also pray that they are victorious in their duty and that they continue to be successful in making our world a safer place to live. They fight for our safety. We can pray that they are allowed to be successful in their fight.
A Proud Supporter of our Military
© 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
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No one could have said it better. We need to support, thank, and always honor our men and women who stand up and volunteer to put on the uniform. For 235 years, they are who have made this country what it is. God Bless them all. And may those lost Navy SEALS rest in peace — job well done.
Here is a beautiful song, "Til the Last Shot's Fired", performed by Trace Adkins and the West Point Chorus at the 2009 ACM awards. A fitting tribute.
[youtube IqjpG9xYjOc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqjpG9xYjOc youtube]
American Airlines Flight 191 was a crash.
KAL Flight 007 was a shoot down.
This is NOT a crash.
I have had family serve in every branch of the US Military, in every conflict, going back to the War for Independence, and I have a son who hopes to be accepted to OCS when he finishes his Bachelor's Degree next year so I truly appreciate and agree with Kevin's words….
My great frustration though, and I suspect what is causing the attitude of "Just bring them home" is the feeling that our military is being forced to fight without being allowed to fight – the new Rules of Engagement cause increased and unnecessary danger, our enemies have no qualms about using women and children as traps and targets and tools for propaganda, too many decisions are being made in Washington and not on the ground, etc.
Our troops are amazing and resilient and deserve our highest praise and unending gratitude but they also deserve to be given the freedom to WIN the battle, completely. If we are not willing to give them that, then we shouldn't ask them to risk their lives! This may sound harsh but we, as a country, need to let the military be the military – they CAN win but if we won't let them, then why are we there?
vikingmom- totally agree on the ROE. The current ROE place our military in much greater danger. 60% of our military deaths in Afghanistan have occurred since Øbama took office. Living in Øbamaland surrounded by his zombie army, the "bring them home" has to do with their leftist thinking. I can assure you they don't think the ROE go far enough. You should have heard one friend of mine go on and on about the villager's cow in the documentary "Restrepo" and the soldiers killing and eating it after it got tangled in barbed wire. The "friend" actually used that cow incident to justify why young men were working for the Taliban. So basically they were placing the ownership rights issue of the cow above the lives of our military. This is the Øbama mindset.
If you want a really good, unbiased and riveting read, pick up a copy of Sebastien Junger's "War". It was recommended to me by a captain in the Army as a good depiction of what it's like in Afghanistan. Junger used his and Tim Hetherington's video to do the "Restrepo" documentary.
Well said. The reason so many want to "bring them home now" is because we sense the futility of a war we will never be "allowed" to win. After all, where's the money in winning a war? There's only profit in fighting a war.
Thank You so much for posting this. I absolutely love all of our men and women in uniform and am devastated by this attack. I am also angry at Mr. Obama for treating these men and women as an afterthought in his speech yesterday. He seems to think that we should not be worried and upset about the economy because after all, we have it better than the families of these murdered heroes.
What a COLD man he is.
I consider myself family to all of our soldiers. They are fighting for US and deserve all of our love, encouragement, thankfulness and prayers.
Here's a a thought that might help you If you are grieving over this horrible loss too. Go to anysoldier.com and look under "where to send" and choose a group of soldiers to write to and tell them how much we appreciate their sacrifice and support them. I've sent to a number of groups over the years and know that if you can't afford to send a package, a letter is just as good and does wonders for their morale – which I suspect is at an all time low right now.
When you read their requests, you may want to have a Kleenex box handy. Pride, worry, sadness and a whole lot of love and respect are just a few of the emotions that overwhelm me when I'm on the site.
Zip, at Weasel Zippers posted a very nice piece putting faces to some of those brave men: http://weaselzippers.us/2011/08/09/photos-of-the-…
You will never be thanked enough for your service AND sacrifice to our Country! Rest in Peace…
To the families of our fallen, you have been and always will be in our prayers. Your loved ones gave their all. They were trained and they were committed. I am ashamed that we as a nation could not provide them with the parts they needed more than anything else – a sense of commitment. I grieve with you over the loss of your loved ones. From the time when our ground forces landed, I was trying to prepare for casualties, but it is never something you can prepare. Each of one those lost in this war is precious to God. May he comfort you now and may He bring peace into your lives now. You are part of my famlily and I want to help you. Please reach out.